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New Product Features: 30 Added in 2004

We've improved our products in more than 30 ways this year!

Some of our most useful additions include:

WebService:

• Circle of Friends
• Inner Circle of Friends
• Spouse Match
• Calculating Giving Capacity with Your Own Formula
• Donor Match
• Updated Organization Search
• Updated History Section

Access Manager:

• Inner Circle (plus Filters)
• Influence & Inclination Quartiles
• Alternate Address Information
• Batch Messages
• Raiser’s Edge/Generic Output Export Facility
• Planned Giving Split (PL & RSM Model)
• Direct Marketing Scores
• Check Box for Giving Capacity
• Ability to Delete Notes Records
• Revised Stats Report – shows # of basic, insight, & detail records plus shows match stats for insight/detail records
• Access Manager & Entire Batch
• Dun & Bradstreet Company Valuation Information
• Basic Profiles Include Match Notes & Alternate Addresses
• Three New Reports
  
  • Rating Overview
  • Giving Capacity Overview
  • Direct Marketing Help

Learning Opportunities: Product Refreshers & Sounding Board Events

Product Training

Do you want to learn to use these new features?

Call or email Jaime Davis to sign up for one of these web-based product refreshers. Sign up today as they fill up fast! contact Jaime at 301-627-6874 or jdavis@wealthengine.com.

Thursday, February 10 – 10:00 am (EST)
Thursday, February 17 – 2:00 pm (EST)

Sounding Board Events

We are constantly looking to improve our products to make them more useful and tailored for each of our clients. As part of our “We Listen to You” campaign, our national tour of Sounding Boards was launched in September 2004 in Washington, DC and another was held in December in Boston. At these Sounding Boards, we review our latest product features, hold panel discussions on rating and scoring, and suggest ways to improve moves management once you get the data.

Several additional Sounding Board events are planned around the country in 2005. Keep an eye out for one near you!

Feature Article: WealthEngine Partner New Sources Shares Annual Campaign Strategies

WealthEngine is delighted to feature partner, New Sources, in this edition of our monthly newsletter. Randy LeGrant and David Lytle, co-founders of New Sources, began their partnership nine years ago to help foreign student exchange agencies target and find host families throughout the United States. Today, New Sources helps nonprofit organizations in 30 different states meet their fundraising goals. Clients include United Jewish Communities and World Lubavitch as well as a lengthy listing of community foundations, educational institutions, synagogues and other social service and charitable organizations.

“Our services include major and new donor acquisition and donor research. We offer database hygiene, a process where we clean addresses and append phone numbers. Also, we develop donor channel preference codes for our clients, helping them figure out the best way to close a gift,” explains Lytle. New Sources provides two other tools -- a catalyst tool, which allows fundraising staff to browse prospect profiles, and gift strings, which provide valuable and realistic information on gift upgrades.

This month, WealthEngine talked with LeGrant and Lytle about annual-campaign giving. We share the interview with you below.

How have you seen the environment change for annual-campaign giving since you launched New Sources?

LeGrant: We have seen three significant changes. First, there is more competition for the same dollar within a community. In major cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia or Boston, organizations are all going after the same funding dollars. Today, for example, it’s very likely that a theatre and an art museum and a symphony will all be fighting for the same dollar. All three will not get it.

Second, there are more and more e-initiatives. Everyone is now doing an e-newsletter. There are even debates over whether to use text or html in these communications. When we do database hygiene for a client, we are likely to be appending email addresses. At fundraising events, attendees are asked their email addresses as part of their contact information.

Third, there are now screening tools, like WealthEngine. These tools are not just for researchers, but for anyone who is doing fundraising. Since we now all can have access to the same donor and their prospect research information, donor relationships are rising to the top. Ten years ago, only a few organizations would fund a researcher and the subscriptions to Lexis Nexis and other databases. What would cost $100,000 ten years ago is now doable for a small charity with two staff people. As a result, five or six charities may be after the same donor, and each organization has the same information. So, it’s all about forming the relationship with the donor.

Lytle: What’s old is new again. Technology is driving us back to basics.

What are some strategies that an organization can use to make an annual campaign thrive in the current environment?

LeGrant and Lytle offer six strategies:

• "You need a chief storyteller. The best way to pull heart strings is to tell stories, not coerce your prospects. Instead, tell a good story about what your charity is doing.
• "Stay connected with your donor," says LeGrant. Lytle adds, "Snuggle up to them."
• "Use as many different channels to stay in touch, as the donor wants. This could be email, an e-newsletter, an event, phone calls, visits or direct mail. And, don't be shy about asking donor preference. New Sources offers nonprofits the ability to manage all these different channels in a donor database.
• "Measure the results of your technology tools. For example, tie your e-newsletter to online giving and see if it is getting results. When someone gives online, offer to add him or her to your e-newsletter. If you are going to have technology tools, evaluate their effectiveness. It's no different than direct mail or telemarketing.
• "Watch for brand awareness. Once you find brand awareness, use it to upgrade a donor. For example, New Sources will help clients find those consistent givers in the database who are likely to have brand awareness.
• "Seasonality is another issue as donors are aging. Donors are likely to be more mobile, and many baby-boomer donors may have two homes. Keep this seasonality in mind as your donors come and go. For example, if your annual campaign runs for the calendar year, you may need to consummate a gift by April or your donor is gone until the following winter. Email addresses are now becoming vitally important. As more people buy their own domain names, it is becoming more likely that email addresses will follow a donor more quickly and easily than a residential address.

In conclusion, LeGrant emphasizes, “Maximize connectivity to your donors.”

Success Story: Research Pays Off At New Parents’ Weekend

WealthEngine Vice-President and experienced prospect researcher Claire Grimm shares this month’s success story. During her tenure at Pepperdine, Claire was able to establish a successful parent program.

“Every year, fundraisers and development staff would say wouldn’t it be nice to have prospect-research information on new parents for our annual orientation weekends,” comments Grimm. “The reality was that the acceptance letters went out in late May or early June, and the first orientation weekend was late June. And – there were 600 new parents.”

Grimm initiated the university’s first data screening in preparation for that late June orientation weekend. Within 48 hours, WealthEngine had a report back to Grimm, and she had it in the hands of her fundraisers.

“Now, the fundraisers knew who to target, and they could concentrate on those parents. The fundraisers knew what the parents’ affiliations were, the boards they sat on, and whether they were philanthropically inclined,” explains Grimm. “The fundraisers loved it, the Vice Chancellor for Major Gifts loved it, and the President who was acting as the Vice-President of Advancement loved it.”

Do you have a prospect research success story to share? If you do, contact kmullins@wealthengine.com.

Questions & Answers

Q: We are having problems logging into WealthEngine and are receiving the error message “Number of concurrent logins exceeded limits - 3. Login History”. Why does this occur, and how can I fix it?

New Staff: Jaime Davis & Claire Grimm

Jaime Davis, Director of Training and Prospect Research, is initiating new training programs as well as providing additional prospect research advice for clients. She is a 1995 graduate of Howard University, where she worked in University Advancement from 1999 to 2003. She served first as Manager and then as Director of Prospect Research and Records. Prior to her tenure at Howard University, she was Development Associate and Coordinator of Development Research at Bowie State University. In addition, she has provided fundraising research services for Tuskegee University and numerous nonprofit organizations. Contact Jaime at jdavis@wealthengine.com.

Claire Grimm, Vice-President of Western Regional Sales, enthusiastically joins WealthEngine after more than a decade working with nonprofit organizations. Most recently, she was the Director of Prospect Research at Pepperdine University in California. While there, she was active in the university’s capital campaign, helping develop and implement data screening to identify prospects. She also worked at the American Red Cross, National Headquarters in Washington, DC, as a fundraiser for international disasters. While there, she raised over $50 million for those affected by Hurricane Mitch plus millions more for other international disasters. Earlier, she worked in prospect research at the NRA Foundation, and she managed her own research business. Contact Claire at cgrimm@wealthengine.com.

Upcoming Events: Stop By Our Exhibit Booth At These Conferences

February 2 - 4	Annual Conference for Development Researchers, Denver, CO
February 24 & 25	NAIS Annual Conference, San Diego, CA